fandomhigh | Introduction to Archaeology, Period 5

"Okay, what is it, where did it come from, what was it used for who used it..." Daniel paused to take a breath. "You get the idea."

Pippi holds up a picture (http://www.nbbd.com/godo/history/windover/Hammer.jpeg). "At the Windover Dig in Titusville, FL an unexpected find was an atlatl 'hook' made from deer antler. The atlatl is a wooden launching device which increases the velocity and the distance a spear can be thrown. The rear end of the spear is nested in the "hook." The atlatl was in use in North and South America for thousands of years before the invention of the bow and arrow, and is still used by hunters in some parts of the world."

[[ooc: will add the other two to this post a little later.

"The existence of a cemetery outside the Roman fort at Brougham, some 20 miles south of the western end of Hadrian's Wall in England, had long been known from finds of tombstones. So when it was announced that the modern highway that ran through it was to be straightened, excavations were planned. According to what I read, this was in 1966, a time when archaeological concerns were of little importance to road builders and archaeologists were poorly funded. Work started unexpectedly in early 1967, before it was scheduled to begin, and under very difficult circumstances a small team of government-sponsored excavators saved what they could--digging more than 300 deposits, including cremation burials, the foundations of at least two large monumental tombs, and a number of what they thought were robbed graves. Detailed recording had to be sacrificed for speed, and some burials were destroyed before they could be recorded fully; part of the adjacent settlement was lost because, as one archaeologist noted at the time, 'the machines were working vigorously at this stage.'

Study of the discoveries began immediately, but the scholar in charge died before finishing her analysis. Incomplete records and lack of funding brought efforts to finish the work in the 1980s to a halt. What was accomplished did, however, reveal the importance of the artifacts--which include Britain's best collection of third-century A.D. glass vessels, like this one..."

Pippi shows a glass jar (http://www.archaeology.org/image.php?page=0505/abstracts/jpegs/letter2.jpeg)

"Funding was provided for a group to go back to the site last year, and that's all I know about what is happening there now."

"In the 4th week of the dig at Hierakonpolis in Egypt, they found what appeared to be beads on a string, or at least preserved in their origonal order in the corner of a tomb that they thought had been plundered. When the photographer asked the workers to clean up the site a little to get a good shot of the discovery they realised that this was more than just a string of beads as each brush stroke revealed more of the iridescent disk-shaped medallion around which the beads had been wound."

Pippi shows a picture of the shell disk-shaped medallion (http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/hierakonpolis/thumbnails/medallion.gif)

"The actual string that held the tiny beads, which were less than 1mm in diameter, had long since disintegrated, so keeping the assemblage in place was delicate work. After full photography and mapping, they took up segments of beads, of which there were about 1,000, in groups of ten beads at a time, foil wrapped and numbered so that they could be restrung in the exact pattern."

Pippi shows a picture of more beads (http://www.archaeology.org/image.php?page=interactive/hierakonpolis/jpegs/beads5.jpeg)

Examination of the shell disk by a... archaeozoologist" Pippi stumbles over that word. "...showed that it was made from the shell of the local freshwater mollusk Spathopsis rubens, that had been carefully cut out, smoothed down and then pierced by drilling. Since prehistory, unmodified shells of this bivalve have also been used as scoops or containers to hold cosmetics."

Pippi holds up a final picture of the restrung amulet and beads (http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/hierakonpolis/thumbnails/restrung.gif)

"As you can see, it's very pretty."

"There was also some interesting things that Hierakonpolis and Windover had in common... But that was involving people bits. And I wasn't sure if people bits counted as an 'artifact'."

Blair bounced and pulled several photos out of his backpack. "Okay man, first off there are the bits (http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/2837ABA4-6262-4F36-9B2A-926F4B9A120E/40817/MFAJ01wx0.jpg) from the Carmel caves dig. Looks like mostly flint fragments from knives and axes that were used to hunting and killing animals and not violence against other people. Cause that's totally not cool.

From Jenne-Jeno I brought this picture of a statuette (http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~anth/arch/mali-interactive/pictures/statuette.jpg). It looks female and could possibly be a fertility symbol or a token of some kind. I'm not really sure though.

There wasn't a whole lot of really cool artifacts at the Plymouth Colony dig, but there was a wooden penny (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/Fieldschool/RockyNook5.jpg) that was found. Which was there because it was money and it was used by people to buy things and that's about it. Nowhere near as cool as the statue!"

~~Pippi wonders if this is because there are no bare tits on the coins.~~

~~Blair would assure her that he never looked directly at the tits. And even if he did it was only for scientific research~~

~~Pippi would say that Blair is a lousy fibber.~~

~~Blair would say Pippi has a big fat crush on the teacher~~

~~Pippi would say that Blair is asking for a big fat lip! :P~~

Blair would say that he's a pacifist and even if he wasn't he would never hit a lady...but he's got a big mouth and a laptop and photocopied posters that say PIPPI LOVES DR. JACKSON will last a lot longer than a fat lip

Pippi would comment that she's not threatened by Blair's posters. Blair could post all the posters he wants, and even hold a sit in to boot. Based on his track record, it seems to be the best way to keep a secret... Oh SNAPS!

Blair would reply...well, probably Blair wouldn't reply, he'd just go and meditate in a corner because Pippi was OMGSOMEAN. But after he centered himself he would call and leave a voicemail with a certain pirate radio dj about the love between a small pirate girl and a science geek professor.

Pippi would just give the certain Pirate Radio DJ some gold coins to keep his hatch shut. Being a Pirate, Radio DJ or not, it would most certainly do the trick. She would also throw in an extra gold coin if he were to announce that Blair... Um... Does stuff... So there.

~~Blair is shocked and appalled at the apparent lack of ethics in pirate radio and is contemplating a petition. Also...does what stuff?~~

~~You know... Stuff... I don't know... Whatever kind of stuff a long haired, snow-huggin', granola crunchin', berkenstock wearin', patchouli stinkin' hippy kid does.~~

~~You got nuthin~~

~~... Screw you hippy.~~

~~Bite me professor-loving pirate~~

Introduction to Archaeology, Period 5

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